Sunday, July 31, 2011

As we mentioned in a Where Have They Been? feature we ran a few months ago, dramatist Todd Field has been missing from the world of cinema since 2006’s sardonic suburban drama, “Little Children.”

Consequentially, the three-time Academy Award-nominated director/writer (and actor) has been sorely missed; adaptations of Cormac McCarthy‘s “Blood Meridian” could never gain much traction even under the aegis of “The Social Network” producer Scott Rudin.

This could all change thanks to one of the most commercially viable actors on the planet who is said to be circling the project.

According to the LA Times, Leonardo DiCaprio has suddenty sprouted interest in “The Creed of Violence,” a Western-ish project is based off Boston Teran‘s novel and takes place in Mexico 1910, during the Mexican Revolution and focuses on the American intervention in the war.

More assurances that HBO's long-running comedy seriesEntourage will spill onto the big screen with a movie, following the end of its eight-season run this fall. "If I had to finance it myself, I would do it," executive producer Mark Wahlberg said during the TCA session dedicated to Entourage's final season. "I've been telling Doug, The Hangover is to me very much like Entourage, and look at all the recent success of R-rated movies." Doug would be Entourage creator/executive producer Doug Ellin. "We’re going to do a movie," he said. "We’re going to do it, the questing is when and how quickly. Hopefully we'll come down with an idea and make it happen."

-Joey's Two Cents: I enjoy the show for what it is, so I wouldn't mind a movie version...thoughts?

Saturday, July 30, 2011

This is an older article, so apologies in advance if you've seen it already or if some of the information feels a bit dated, but I stumbled upon this over at indieWIRE while doing some research and wanted to share it with you all:

So after a five year absence, “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farisare returning with “He Loves Me Not,” a whimsical-sounding project—described as a mix of “Adaptation” and “Weird Science”—written by actress Zoe Kazan that will star herself, her boyfriend Paul Dano and possibly Jeff Bridges if all goes well. Fox Searchlight announced it had picked up the picture and it would shoot later this summer. Finally!

Rewinding the tape a little bit, earlier this year it was reported that James Franco may or may not be directing an adaptation of “Blood Meridian” which seemed to be news to producer Scott Rudin (he owns the rights and it appears that Franco’s take on it was unsolicited). What we were more concerned with was: what did this mean for Todd Field? Director of two great little dramas, “In the Bedroom” and “Little Children,” the actor/filmmaker had been developing the aforementioned bleak and bloodyCormac McCarthy novel for what felt like ages. Both stories made us think of Field, Dayton/Faris and a host of other directors who haven’t made a film in years for one reason or another. So here’s five filmmakers who haven’t made a feature-length film in over five years, some of the reasons why, and what they are cooking up next.

Tuesday night is a big one for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They hold their annual election for president (expect current prexy Tom Sherak to be easily re-elected for his third and final one-year term) and they will choose the 2011 recipients of the Governors Awards, which will be some combination of Honorary Oscars, The Irving G. Thalberg Award and/or the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

In response to an Oscar season featuring a significant uptick in campaign parties and schmooze-fests, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is preparing to impose new restrictions on lavish festivities.

A proposal for revised regulations, which sources tell The Hollywood Reporter is currently being drafted by an AMPAS committee, still must be approved by the Academy's board of governors, which next meets Aug. 2. But the plan will almost certainly include new restrictions on the number and kind of events that can be thrown, and insiders expect new regulations to be adopted.

"There will be a tightening of the rules, no question," an Academy insider tells THR.

Roman Polanski's Carnage will make its North American premiere Sept. 30 as the opening-night film of the 49th New York Film Festival, the event that kicked off The Social Network's big awards-season run last year. The film, starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly, is an adaptation of Yasmina Reza's Broadway smash God of Carnage, which won the Tony in 2009 at best play -- making its New York return a kind of fitting homecoming. The plot revolves around the events of an evening when two Brooklyn couples are brought together after their children are involved in a playground fight. Said Ben Said produced the film; Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it. Of course, it's a safe bet that the festival, which runs Sept. 30-Oct. 16, won't have the director of its kickoff film walking the red carpet, as Polanski remains a fugitive in the U.S. after fleeing sentencing following a 1977 conviction for unlawful sex with a minor.

-Joey's Two Cents: I'm always on the verge of going to the fest, and this might be the year. This particular film could be really interesting...thoughts?

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Continuing to be developed well under the radar, almost to the point where we were wondering if it was still happening, Kathryn Bigelow‘s “The Hurt Locker” followup, her currently untitled Seal Team 6 flick now has a firm release date: October 12, 2012—right in the heart of awards season.

Since late last year, Bigelow and writer Mark Boal have been hard at work on the black ops thriller, the details of which, at the time, were being kept under wraps but was rumored to be about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Those rumors turned out be true but when the Al Qaeda leader was suddenly killed the spring, it was reported that Boal a former investigative reporter, shifted his research and resources and was already rewriting with a section covering the 40 minute firefight that resulted in Bin Laden’s death. Even more, Aussie actor Joel Edgerton was said to be a frontrunner for the untitled film—also referred to as “Kill Bin Laden”—and despite Columbia picking up the rights to the film, nothing has been heard on casting since. And considering Edgerton will be busy on Baz Luhrmann‘s “The Great Gatsby” this fall, we’d guess he’s no longer in the running.

Of course, any other details are being sealed (ha!) for now. But with a release date now looming just over a year away, updates should begin to trickle out soon. There is no other film slated for that weekend yet, but the film is now poised to be a major player on the fall festival circuit next year (you can bet Venice and TIFF folks are making calls now) and will be a strong contender to get Bigelow back on the podium in the Kodak Theater.

So it seems, though they will be playing roles they're each less accustomed to, according to Collider:

Any day that involves a Con Air reunion is a good day. Nicolas Cage and John Cusack, who were the stars of the 1997 action film centering on a prison-hijacked plane (genius!), are in negotiations to reteam on The Frozen Ground. The film is based on the true story of an Alaskan family man who, for 12 years, abducted over 24 women and flew them to the wilderness where he hunted them for sport. Detective Glenn Flothe teamed up with the serial killer’s only escaped victim to eventually bring him to justice.

If you thought you knew who would play what role, you’re probably wrong. Deadline reports that Cage is eyeing the part of Detective Flothe while Cusack would play Robert Hansen, the serial killer. Scott Walker wrote and will make his directorial debut on the project. If both actors sign on, this’ll make for one hell of a creepy project.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Filmmaker Kevin Smith has never had an issue speaking his mind (just ask the folks at Southwest Airlines). So perhaps this news isn't so surprising: Vulture has learned that the director ofClerks and the upcoming Red State is developing a daily, half-hour, syndicated talk show that would blend celebrity chat and comedy. Work has already begun on a pilot for the potential talker, with Smith asking his legion of Twitter fans Tuesday to e-mail him if they want to be in the audience. So just what would a Kevin Smith talk show look like? Vulture got its hands on an e-mail the show's booking staff has been sending to potential guests, and it provides a pretty good idea of what's brewing.

According to the message, Smith's reps are telling celebs that the tentatively titled Kevin Smith Project will be "a daily 30-minute entertainment talk show for syndication ... The idea is a Regis and Kelly talk show at the opposite end of the day for the opposite kind of audience — the 12-34 demo. Kevin and his co-host will talk water-cooler topics at the top of the show, followed by a celebrity interview and a comedy segment from the field (a la The Daily Show). Each show will feature one celebrity interview." The message also gives a hint as to which studios might be behind the project: "The show is being positioned to air following TMZ, in the 6-8pm time period on the Fox stations in all the major markets." TMZ hails from Warner Bros. Television's Telepictures unit, so that studio could be a likely home for Smith; the Fox stations also could be behind the show via their sister studio, Twentieth Television. (Vulture is in the process of contacting those studios and we'll update you if we find out more specifics, including the identity of the aforementioned co-host: Will it be Scott Mosier, his partner for his online SModcasts? Or a reunion with Jay?)

Smith has been dropping hints about this career direction. Just last week, he told USA Today that he'd love to be paid to just be himself and talk. But at first blush, Smith does not seem an obvious fit with the usual syndicated talk-show archetypes: He's not aspirational like Oprah, journalistic like Anderson Cooper, or downmarket like Jerry Springer. His fame also isn't nearly as widespread — or mainstream — as past celebrity chatters, from Whoopi Goldberg to Tony Danza. But he does have a core audience of younger, slightly more male fans who might welcome a daily dose of Smith's unconventional, somewhat Howard Stern–esque manner. He's gotten lots of experience in a talklike format via his regular SModcasts and recent Internet radio show. Smith is also friendly with tons of celebs, giving him access to potential guests. The potential problem we see with this show: Smith has a dirty, dirty mouth, and loves to talk very openly about his sex life and fantasies. While stations could air the show in late night, broadcast TV could be a somewhat tougher sell for Smith than, say, a show on Spike or G4. That said, we're pretty sure his show will be a lot more fun than Katie Couric's.

-Joey's Two Cents: Count me in, as you no doubt could guess...thoughts?

...especially in terms of the Oscar hopefuls. Here's the story from Deadline:

With today's announcement of the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival lineup (or at least the first phase of titles) and the imminent announcement Thursday of the Venice International Film Festival lineup, the buzzing about Oscar possibilities -- at least as far as the all-important Fall Festival circuit is concerned -- is off and running, even with five weeks to go before Venice and Telluride's increasingly important Labor Day weekend festival get the six-month season off to its official launch. As for that latter fest, we will have to wait until Sept. 1, the day before it opens, to find out what potential Oscar goodies it might have in store.

There is indeed a pecking order in the way these announcements are made, and the reason Telluride does not go the splashy weeks-in-advance press conference route like Toronto (this year's dates: Sept. 8-18) and Venice (Aug. 31-Sept. 10) do -- as well as October's New York Film Festival -- is because it doesn't mind keeping its lineup secret and not labeled as "World" or "North American" premieres in return for actually getting the movies and their filmmakers to attend the oh-so-cool movie geek fest (my fave) high in the Colorado mountains. Studios and distributors who participate in Telluride are sworn to secrecy as to their plans as usual (one publicist was even afraid to admit to me they weren't going for fear of retribution), but that can't keep us from some informed speculation which Oscar hopefuls will be making the trip there as well as to the other fests. Last year, you may recall Telluride was the first North American stop for The King's Speech, 127 Hours and Black Swan among other big Oscar titles.

Strategies abound as to which festival is right for your film, and jockeying will continue long after these announcements and right up to festival time. A wrong decision can be deadly for a film's potential marketing and awards campaign, which is why studios and distributors are so cautious about jumping into the early fall festival waters, particularly, as in many cases this year, where the film isn't even scheduled until the holiday season.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

First of all, sorry for the delay in posting this, but I was dealing with a few things today, and then technical difficulties got in my way. All is good now, and we can focus on the DVD offerings that the current week has. This week, the top 2 releases are very strong, and the rest is just enough to boost the week into a rather notable category of being "better than usual". On their own, either of the top 2 flicks would be easy selections for top honors this week, but since they're together, a bit more thinking is needed. I thought long and hard about it, but I ultimately went with the one that managed to crack my mid-year top 10 list for my PICK OF THE WEEK. It's a supremely entertaining and surprisingly high quality hollywood offering. It's:

Source Code

I was already a huge fan of Duncan Jones from Moon a few years back, but this solidified him as one of the top young directors working today. It does feature a script that somewhat falls apart upon close inspection, but during the initial viewing it's an incredibly entertaining thrill ride that expertly directed by Jones and strongly acted by Jake Gyllenhaal in a lead role well suited for him, as well as strong supporting turns from Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright. It was easily one of the 10 best things I saw during the first half of 2011, and now that it's available on DVD, I highly recommend picking it up!

-Also out getting a big thumbs up from me is David Schwimmer's well made melodrama Trust. It's a well acted cautionary tale about internet predators that's notable for two reasons. One is the breakout performance of young Liana Liberato (to go along with good supporting work from Clive Owen and Catherine Keener), and the other is the absolute gut punch of an ending that Schwimmer allows the film to conclude on. It's perhaps the most haunting final minutes of any film this year. It didn't do much in theaters, but now that it's out on DVD, I do recommend giving it a shot...

-The rest of the releases this week include the flawed but decent Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, the pseudo-sequel to Happiness that I missed called Life During Wartime, the biographic drama Mao's Last Dancer, and the nearly direct to video action flick Ironclad. I can only speak for the first film, but none of these movies seem that bad to me (or that amazing, for that matter), so it comes down to a matter of taste. Go with your gut on this one...

-My Vintage pick, in honor of this week's release of Crazy Stupid Love, is a collection of Ryan Gosling's 5 best performances (to me at least). They are, in quality of performance order: Blue Valentine, Half Nelson, The Slaughter Rule, Lars and the Real Girl, and The Believer. All are strong films, and Gosling is incredible in each of them, so if you haven't seen them, correct that now!

Audiences came out bigger than expected for the latest superhero to arrive on the big screen as "Captain America: The First Avenger" delivered a strong $65.1 million opening, giving it a huge victory over a rapidly declining "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2". Paramount reps were obviously ecstatic with the reception afforded to "Captain America" and the film opened almost even with May's "Thor", which started with $65.7 million.

With the arrival of "Captain America", everything has lined up nicely for May 4, 2012, when the eagerly anticipated "Avengers" film, featuring Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and other Marvel comic book icons finally sees its realization on the big screen. After some initial alarmingly negative reviews, "Captain America" saw its Tomatometer rise to 74% - on par with the reception critics levied upon "Iron Man 2" (74%) and "Thor" (77%).

Audiences were quite taken with the film and its throwback look and feel, grading it an A- via CinemaScore. The film has yet to make its mark overseas yet, grossing $2.8 million in Italy, the only overseas location receiving the film. Paramount and Marvel are rechristening the film internationally as "The First Avenger".

All in all, its yet another success for Marvel and Paramount, as Chris Evans lines up nicely alongside his counterparts, setting the stage for one of the most eagerly anticipated advance release dates of recent memory.

A "Harry Potter" breakdown (perhaps literally), Justin and Mila receive a warm welcome, and Indian cinema makes some headlines...more analysis, The Weekend Breakdown and The Top 40 after the cut!

Mimi Leder has signed on to direct All Quiet on the Western Front, an adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s WWI novel that was previously turned into the 1930 film that won a Best Picture Oscar and another for director Lewis Milestone. The novel is about the intense and terrifying action of 1918 trench warfare that traumatizes a young and idealistic German soldier on the Western front. The script is by Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson. They will produce through their Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment shingle. They have also come up with part of the funding, Leder told me.

Leder, whose feature credits include Deep Impact and The Peacemaker, just completed directing the season finale of Luck, the HBO series that stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, with Michael Mann and David Milch exec producing. She hadn't read the novel or seen the original film when she was sent the WWI script by Stokell and Paterson, but was struck by how the themes of disillusion and loss of humanity during ferocious fighting hadn't lost its relevance despite the period setting.

...judging by the early word on what films will be playing. We'll know the official slate on Thursday, but for now this look from indieWIRE will do:

While the official announcement won’t occur until Thursday, Variety is reporting what appears to be the majority of the lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival, including new works from David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Roman Polanski, Todd Solondz, Jonathan Demme, Alexander Sokurov, Mary Harron, William Friedkin and Madonna. They come in addition to the already announced “The Ides of March,” George Clooney’s political drama that will open the festival.

The article also suggested that new films Walter Salles, Wong Kar Wai, Luc Besson, Brillante Mendoza and Fatih Akin will not be ready for the festival.

Below is the full list of films the article notes (not listed is Soderbergh’s film, which isn’t explicitly noted in the Variety story though one can probably assume it’s “Contagion” and not “Haywire”).

Monday, July 25, 2011

It has been nearly six years since the Aussie horror flick “Wolf Creek” turned the heads of genre film fans around the world. If you think the film about a group of backpackers held captive by a crazed serial killer was just for horror enthusiasts guess again. The film notched seven Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Director for Greg Mclean who followed up his debut shocker with “Rogue,” a less impressive man-eating-alligator thriller that starred Sam Worthington. But Mclean is ready to head back to the film that put him on the map, as Mick Taylor is back to carve up more unfortunately travellers in “Wolf Creek 2.”

With financing now lined up Mclean returns with lead actor John Jarrat in tow for the film that will head into pre-production later this year, with a shooting start date of February 2012 marked on the calendar. Of course, exact details are being closely guarded—producer Matt Hearn says, “We’re keeping story details top secret for now, but it is safe to say: scarier, bigger, badder”—but this time around Mclean has teamed with Aaron Sterns (script editor on “Rogue”) on the screenplay. You read the first official logline after the jump:

Presenting… the fairest of them all! “I keep saying to everyone I feel like I’m walking into a snow globe, a fairy tale, every single day,” says Lily Collins, star of Relativity Media’s as yet untitled Snow White, which co-stars Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen. “It’s so epic. I was part of a costume ball today, so you can only imagine the outfits.”

The movie, out March 16, is directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall, the upcoming Immortals) and promises a world as surreal as anything dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm. Click through for more details…

...and it definitely looks mildly different than I expected, especially Kristen Stewart. I can't say I'm especially interested in this project, but I'm not dismissive of it or anything. I'm more or less just taking a wait and see approach to it, so perhaps it'll end up impressing me. We shall see, but for now you can hit the jump and take a larger look at Snow White and her friends.

With Cowboys & Aliens premiering tonight at Comic-Con,Harrison Ford has attached himself to another cowboy role, though this one comes with an interesting twist.

Ford is attached to star as an aging Wyatt Earp in Black Hats, an adaptation of a Max Allan Collins novel being produced by Thunder Road's Basil Iwanyk and Jason Netter of Kickstart Productions.

Kurt Johnstad, who co-wrote 300 and is co-writing its sequel,300: The Battle of Artemisia, has been tapped to pen the adaptation.

Black Hats blends fact with fiction in its telling of the story involving an older Earp, the one who spent his last years as a private detective and movie consultant in Los Angeles. The spin involves Earp learning that his friend and compatriot Doc Holliday had a son, now living in Prohibition-era New York City. While Holliday is long dead, the son has gotten himself in trouble with a rising mobster, Al Capone.

Earp teams up with Bat Masterson, one of his former deputies and now noted sportswriter for the New York Morning Telegraph, to take on the gang in what becomes a tale of six-shooters versus tommy guns.

Collins wrote the book, published in 2007, under the pseudonym of Patrick Culhane. The author, known in comic circles for creating private eye heroine Ms Tree and writing Batman stories, wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition, later adapted into a 2002 gangster movie directed by Sam Mendesstarring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law.